


late night fluorescent haze

by neonmoonlight



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Human, Diners, Fluff, M/M, Sharing a Bed, late night studying, stylized: all lowercase
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-27
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:46:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21989728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neonmoonlight/pseuds/neonmoonlight
Summary: the world was dipped in yellows and oranges from the sunrise, making everything look golden. looking around him, virgil was kinda struck with the beauty of a sunrise, since he rarely got to see it since he was normally asleep with the curtains drawn. he took his phone out and snapped a couple pictures of the street before turning the camera on logan. he smiled at the camera before covering his face with his hands. the rising sun framed his head in a golden halo, and virgil actually stopped in his tracks, his mind short circuiting again.“you look like a renaissance painting..” virgil said with hushed awe, holding his phone to his chest. logan tilted his head to the side in confusion.“a renaissance painting?”
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Logic | Logan Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders
Comments: 7
Kudos: 80
Collections: Sanders Sides Secret Santa 2019





	late night fluorescent haze

**Author's Note:**

> hey hi hello!!
> 
> this is a gift for [flatlinesunrelenting](flatlinesunrelenting.tumblr.com) on tumblr! they asked analogical and here they are! this fic went through multiple stages before i finally ended up here with this pile of soft gay fluff. hope you enjoy!!
> 
> shout out to the mods of this exchange, y'all are amazing. another shoutout to my beta ash, u a real one.
> 
> hope yall enjoy!

there’s a serenity in a completely still, cold winter night. there’s fog rolling in from over the hills, rain that’s more mist than solid, and the sound of cars passing. on nights like these, virgil felt like he was the only person in the universe, even with the sounds of traffic. normally on these kinds of nights, he’d open the window and put on some lo-fi stream while working on homework, which miraculously managed to get his brain to shut up long enough to focus. virgil loved these little pockets of peace he could find in between the hecticness that was college.

what he didn’t love was distractingly pretty boys in his art history class. well… he did love him, but the last thing he needed in his class was a pretty boy that sat right next to him and distracted virgil constantly. not that it was logan’s fault, virgil was just really, really gay, and logan checked all of his boxes. of course, he was way to anxious to actually say anything to logan about going on a date, despite the few times they hung out at the library or around campus studying together. But for now he just swallows down his feelings and contents himself with their friendship.

virgil drops his pen, groaning, and rubs his hands over his face vigorously, trying to get logan out of his head for five minutes. he just wanted to finish up his homework and go to bed, but it seems like his brain is stuck in a loop that he is helpless to get out of. stretching, he glances over at his alarm clock, debating if it’s worth it to visit the diner off-campus. he doesn’t have classes the next day along with it being a rare day off work so if he spent the night at the diner studying, it wouldn’t affect any plans…

grabbing his wallet and pushing his books back into his bag, virgil shuts his window and makes his way out of his building. the walk in the cold december air is refreshing and has allowed him to clear his head a little bit. it rained earlier that day, and the wet roads and sidewalks made the christmas lights that were strung up across the town look even more vibrant. the reflections looked like they were melting, causing everything to look like a set off of some show. virgil took a couple photos of the lights on his walk, figuring that he would try and use them as a reference for one art thing or another. 

the bell above the diner door managed to pull virgil out of his head. virgil waved at the hostess who was standing by the bar, chatting with the guy behind the counter, and made his way over to his usual booth in the back corner. halfway there though, he got distracted. 

logan was sitting at a booth, head on his arms and glasses hanging off one ear. his books and notes were scattered all over the table, and virgil honestly couldn’t tell if logan was asleep or gave up hope of studying. after standing there for way too long, virgil finally pushed himself towards logan’s table, figuring it would be less sad to study with a friend at the diner instead of by himself. tapping his knuckles on the table, he tried to not startle logan but it was a lost cause really. logan sat up, hands fumbling with his glasses and ended up dropping them onto the table. logan took a second to just stare down at his glasses in disappointment before turning to virgil, squinting a little.

“oh, hi virgil, i didn’t expect to see you here this late,” he said, putting his glasses back on his face. virgil just shrugged, and shifted the weight of his backpack onto his other shoulder.

“oh well, you know how finals get... would you mind if i joined you?” virgil was really proud of himself for sounding at least a little confident. logan just waved him down onto the other side of the booth, moving some of his notes around to make room for him. slipping his backpack off, virgil scooted his way over to the wall of the booth. after a few minutes of arranging books and notes and such, the two of them settled into a comfortable silence. 

maybe he was just really gay and an art major, but there was something in the way that the light framed logan that made him just seem etheral. the lighting in the diner was low enough to cast dramatic shadows over logan’s face, accentuating his jawline and cheekbones. his hair was just long enough to cover one of his eyes as he leaned over his textbook, and virgil wanted to just reach out and tuck it behind logan’s ear and leave his hand lingering for a second too long before pulling back. chewing on the edge of his pen, virgil pulled his sketchbook closer to him. curling up in the corner of the booth, virgil settled in to sketch logan studying. which technically wasn’t part of his homework, but his teacher did tell him to work on studies and drawing figures. he just would take any excuse possible to draw logan. 

the two of them sat in comfortable silence for who knows how long, virgil definitely couldn’t say. he got so caught up in his drawing of logan that he lost track of time. and by the time he was done, logan was half asleep over his science homework. the world outside the diner was dipped in shades of blue and gray and looking like some set of an indie movie that roman would’ve forced virgil to watch. he made a mental note to text roman later about his night, knowing full well roman will wax poetic about it to him for an hour at least. 

dropping his sketchbook on the table, virgil sat up fully and started packing his things up. logan still had his head on his hand, head down towards his textbook but virgil was pretty sure that logan was just fully asleep. not even a second later, logan’s hand slipped and he face planted straight into his textbook. that jerked him awake, and he blinked blearily at virgil, squinting because his glasses fell off. _god he was cute._

“do you have any classes today?” virgil was soft with his words, not wanting to disturb whatever peace had settled upon the two of them in their little area of the diner. 

“it’s my one day off,” logan’s voice was just slightly rougher than it normally was and the first thought that went through virgil’s head was that he wouldn’t mind waking up to that every day. he had to actually look away from logan and out the window to try and get his head in order. 

“do you want to spend the night at my dorm? i’m pretty sure it’s closer…” virgil glanced back at logan and started to pack his stuff back into his bag, trying to act like it wouldn’t bother him if logan said no (it would, but only just a little). 

“what about your roommate?”

“oh, roman is already home for break. he took his last final like a week ago i think, but he left for home a few days ago because he was waiting for patton to be done so they could go be sappy and meet each other’s parents,” he rolled his eyes as he said the last part, not really annoyed at patton and roman being grossly cute together. logan chuckled softly at that, raising an eyebrow at virgil.

“so now that you have the place to yourself, you invite a boy over?” it was way too early in the morning for logan to be smirking at virgil. it was made worse by the fact that they were both tired and virgil ducked his head, trying to hide his blush with his hair and hood. 

“and what if i am?” he looked up at logan through his bangs, not brave enough to actually look him in the face. and unless he was seeing something, logan looked slightly nervous and was he blushing??

“well… logically, it would be better to go with you than try and make my way across campus…” virgil looked up fully, trying to bite back a hopeful smile. logan just grinned back tiredly and virgil forgot how to breathe. 

“so you wanna come up?” it took virgil a few seconds to get his tongue to finally work properly due to his brain short circuiting whenever logan did something remotely cute.

“i would love to.” logan piled his books up and somehow managed to slide them into his bag neatly. virgil just slung his bag on his shoulder and stood up, dropping a few bills on the table for a tip. he went to hold his hand out for logan, but he was already getting out of the booth so virgil just put his hands into his hoodie pockets, trying to make it seem like that was his plan all along. 

the two of them made their way out of the diner and out onto the street. somehow, it seemed colder than it was when virgil went inside, even with the sun rising. shrinking back into his hoodie, virgil moved to the side so logan could walk beside them as they made their way back to his dorm. 

the world was dipped in yellows and oranges from the sunrise, making everything look golden. looking around him, virgil was kinda struck with the beauty of a sunrise, since he rarely got to see it since he was normally asleep with the curtains drawn. he took his phone out and snapped a couple pictures of the street before turning the camera on logan. he smiled at the camera before covering his face with his hands. the rising sun framed his head in a golden halo, and virgil actually stopped in his tracks, his mind short circuiting again. 

“you look like a renaissance painting..” virgil said with hushed awe, holding his phone to his chest. logan tilted his head to the side in confusion.

“a renaissance painting?” 

“i mean… the sunrise framed you and it looked like you had a halo. like, you know, the paintings of angels and other religious people.” virgil ducked his head again and stuffed his phone back into his pocket. turning back around, virgil kept walking, his exhaustion finally catching up with him and reminding him that he’s been up all night. 

the two of them walked in comfortable silence for the rest of the way back to virgil’s dorm. most of the people on virgil’s floor were gone for break already, because they somehow already got their finals done. virgil was only there because he asked his art history professor if he could take it a few days later than everyone else in class, and she was nice enough to allow it. and also work, he was also still on campus because he had work and his last day wasn’t until right before christmas.

unlocking the door to his dorm, virgil kicked off his shoes and dropped his bag behind the door. he moved further in to let logan into the room, going over to the window to shut the blackout curtains that roman surprisingly bought. roman’s side of the room was emptier and way neater than it ever was when roman was living there. virgil actually put clean sheets on his bed the other night when he couldn’t sleep and was doing laundry, but roman took the comforter with him when he left. virgil watched as logan looked around the room, dropping his bag next to roman’s bed. 

“it’s like day and night in here.” logan said, turning in a circle to look at everything. 

“yeah, roman and i hated each other at first,” virgil got into his bed, tossing his hoodie onto his desk chair. “but then we had this two hour long debate about the meaning behind disney movies and were chill after.” 

“my roommate is never in the dorm when i’m in,” logan shrugged off his jacket, dropping it on top of virgil's hoodie. “are we sharing your bed?” 

“i mean if you want to…” the way that logan said that so casually and calmly absolutely blew virgil’s mind because he was used to skirting around shit and not really saying anything. logan grinned and got into the bed next to virgil. he scooted over to the wall, holding up his blanket for logan to get under. once they settled down, there was a three inch gap between them that virgil wanted to cross but also was way too scared to cross. he knew how he got himself in this situation, but virgil really has no clue how he got here. 

it wasn’t that long ago that logan sat down next to him in art history, late for the only time in his life. he had slipped into his seat and nodded at virgil before pulling out his laptop. his hair was shorter than, curls all perfectly styled and not a hair out of place. he always wore his button ups and polos with a tie. he looked the part of a business major, and the relief virgil felt when he found out that logan was actually an education major was ridiculous. he was just too nice to be anything close to a business major. they spent a whole class just passing notes back and forth talking about conspiracy theories, and space, and the randomest things.

now though, now logan is a mere three inches away, and even though he was closer physically than he ever was in class, virgil felt like he was too far away. the little bit of light that got through the edges of the blackout curtains framed everything in a weird hazy kind of light. logan at least had his eyes closed and looked like he was trying to sleep, one arm under his pillow, arm stretching out over the edge of the bed. virgil just spent a few moments to just watch logan, trying to memorize how he looked when he was relaxed. logan always held himself so carefully, since he wanted to be taken seriously and listened to. so seeing him all relaxed and soft tonight was a welcome change and virgil realized that he really wanted to be with logan. 

roman always told him that if the opportunity to follow his heart, he should. and virgil knew that if he didn’t do anything now, nothing was going to happen so he sucked up his courage and gently shook logans shoulder. 

“logan?” virgil was proud that his voice wasn’t shaky, since his stomach was full of butterflies.

“hmm?” logan opened one of his eyes and looked up at virgil through the hair falling over his face. 

“um… i was wondering, if you wanted to go to the movies later today? you know, when we wake up and stuff… it’s okay if you don’t want to though, i was just thinking about it and wanted to ask before i forgot,” virgil looked down at his hands, messing with the edge of his dark purple blanket, not wanting to make eye contact with logan just in case.

“are you asking me out on a date?” logan shifted on the bed, leaning on his elbow. virgil went bright red and pulled the blanket up to cover most of his face.

“...maybe,” 

“virgil mallory, i would love to go on a date with you, but we need sleep first,” logan pulled virgil closer to him so they were properly cuddling instead of just sharing a bed. “is this okay?”

virgil just nodded since his tongue was refusing to work due to his brain short-circuiting since he couldn’t believe logan actually wanted to go on a date with him. it took a minute of adjusting their positions before they both felt comfortable enough to fall asleep. logan seemed to settle down and fall asleep pretty quickly, but it took virgil a bit longer. resting his head on logans chest, he watched the colors shift on the wall next to the window. his mind finally quieted down enough for him to just rest. and in the early morning, he felt safe and protected, and within a breath, he finally fell asleep. 

**Author's Note:**

> kudos and comments are appreciated!!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [hold me close and tell me about the stars](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21994501) by [angelheartbeat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/angelheartbeat/pseuds/angelheartbeat)




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